The EnGoddening Continues

Scariest news story of the day goes to the LA Times and its profile of evangelical groups meeting on Capitol Hill to strategize with elected officials on more effective ways of Christianizing the US government. These meetings are taking place in the Capitol which is supposed to be governed by rules forbidding private groups engaged in commercial or political endeavors. But given the White House’s policy of giving conservative Christians anything they want, I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that members of Congress are donating public office space to organizations like the Statesmanship Institute whose stated mission is to give its students “the tools to integrate biblical principles with your calling to public service.”How ironic that as Iraq struggles with the noble and hopefully not insurmountable task of forging a democratic government out of the crucible of religious fundamentalism, the reverse phenomenon is underway in America. We already have a president whose religious beliefs led him to support the teaching of religion (Intelligent Design) in public school science classes. His faith-based initiative tears down the separation of church and state. The public at large is engaged in legal and political debates about the “sacredness” of marriage, the religious implications of stem cell research, and, of course, that old standby, “the sanctity of life.”Now I know that debates about these issues have been raging for years, but never before has there been such an opening for the value judgments of conservative Christians to be codified into law. And we’re worried about Iraq? We need to start worrying about America. In fact, we need to start panicking about America.I’ll leave you with a quote from my favorite church/state separatist:“In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own”--Thomas Jefferson